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A freebie teabag from the 2018 San Francisco International Tea Festival. I’m having a horrible migraine today and thought something like this would be fairly inoffensive since my GI goes cray-cray at the same time my head goes boom. I couldn’t rip open the outer package to the teabag and had to get the kitchen scissors, which cut the top off of the interior teabag, so I had to empty all the contents into one of my own fillable teabags, which was slighly more effort than I wanted to put forth while feeling like this, but meh. It was done and the tea was steeped.

I really just smell grapefruit and orange zest coming off the cup. That is mostly what I taste, too, but then, I’ve never had milk thistle and am not sure what it should taste like. The grapefruit is a lot lighter tasting than I usually get when it is used in teas, and I really like that (I’ve started to warm up to it as a flavor presense as of late, even though I don’t care for the plain fruit). It’s like there is a light, milky, slightly floral/herbaceous note that was tempering the grapefruit from being too abrasive, and it actually worked really well. If I was going to drink a grapefruit-flavored tea, I actually think this would be my choice. It’s coming off a little more as a generic citrus zest note, but very pleasant.

Ya… I dig this! Not something I’d ever think to try so I’m glad I got the chance to try it!

Flavors: Citrus Zest, Floral, Grapefruit, Herbaceous, Milk, Smooth

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML
derk

I remember enjoying this freebie from the fest 2 years ago. Feel better, MA.

White Antlers

Milk Thistle can be very bitter, as it is used as a tonic/detox for the liver. The bitter herbs, like yarrow, angelica, burdock, dandelion, mugwort and so on, stimulate the vagus nerve which controls heart rate, digestion, blood pressure and the immune system. Sounds like you got a very mild amount of it, as the tea sounds quite drinkable.

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derk

I remember enjoying this freebie from the fest 2 years ago. Feel better, MA.

White Antlers

Milk Thistle can be very bitter, as it is used as a tonic/detox for the liver. The bitter herbs, like yarrow, angelica, burdock, dandelion, mugwort and so on, stimulate the vagus nerve which controls heart rate, digestion, blood pressure and the immune system. Sounds like you got a very mild amount of it, as the tea sounds quite drinkable.

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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